More and more information has been coming out the last couple of days about just how this whole Ben Roethlisberger and Todd Haley situation is being handled. Things we do know based on reports from the local media.

-Ben spent 4 days in the training facility while Todd Haley was there and the two did not talk.
-Ben tracked down reporter, I believe it was Ed Bouchette, an hour before Haley’s presser and gave him a 15 minute interview.
-Ben’s comments in recent interviews talking about how great he is and how great the offense was under Arians. “I’ve thrown for 4,000 yds last year. “Our receivers each had 1,000 yds.”
-Ben saying he would hate to see them throw out everything they’ve done so far because they were so close to being great.

Ben has been very calculating so far, in my opinion, on what he’s trying to accomplish here with his remarks. What that is though it’s hard to say about now.

To date, we don’t know if Haley and Ben have talked yet. Perhaps they have, perhaps not. How can you be in the same building for days on end, within literally yards of each other at any given time, and not speak?

Haley has a responsibility here too, to seek out Ben and want to talk with him. Tomlin does too, why doesn’t he just give Ben a call and say “hey Ben, swing by my office after lunch for a few minutes” and then Ben comes in and Haley is there. “Ok you too, you’ll be working together, I’d like you to meet”

Honestly this whole thing is just a circus. Tomlin and or Art II better get a handle on this.

Ibleedblk&gld

02-13-2012, 09:11 AM

Tired of hearing Ben's crying...I love ben as a football player, but he has been doing nothing but crying during this Todd Haley hiring...change is coming and he needs to be onboard, he doesn't own or run the team...if he doesn't like it, he can pack his bags and go to Indy with his boyfriend and we'll take peyton...

chisteeler

02-13-2012, 09:38 AM

It's a staring contest and Ben can't blink first. The ego's are at stake here and neither one wants to be the one to give in. In there deranged minds, it will show a sense of weakness.

LatrobePA

02-13-2012, 09:39 AM

Ben is holding out for his BFF Bruce to come back! IMO Ben is walking on thin ice, time to STFU and buy into the system you toolbag!!

I'm over Ben, he's an *******... Like I've said in the past I'll be his biggest fan while he's here, but if he was on a different team I'd wish him nothing but the worse!

steelchamp204

02-13-2012, 09:48 AM

Ive said this before and got flamed for it. If something is going to happen between these two its going to be because of Ben. Not Haley.

JensK

02-13-2012, 10:25 AM

Ive said this before and got flamed for it. If something is going to happen between these two its going to be because of Ben. Not Haley.

Based on what we've heard so far I concur. It was not Haley who asked the Rooney's to fire BA. That was either Tomlin or Rooney. Haley got hired to take over after that, and Big Ben then takes it out on him, instead of having the balls to confront Tomlin or Rooney. I guess it can be hard to call out a man who is paying him 100 million dollars, so Haley is probably the easier target of the two. My point is, Big Ben needs to get his act together and start caring more about the football team rather than his personal interests. I mean, he had 4000y this season? SO WHAT? 3 players had over 5000, and a couple more were darn close. 4000, while good, is not exactly benchmark anymore. It was nice than our WR's did as well as they did, but that was because of talent, not because of the play-calling.

I get that Ben likes BA, and there should be room for that of course. But Ben needs to understand the business he is in and cope accordingly. If not, either Tomlin or Rooney better make sure he understands it if he don't want to catch the wrath of the whole Steelers community. And that is probably the last thing he needs right now.

coldrolled

02-13-2012, 10:46 AM

Maybe Haley is making up a highlight reel for ben to watch of all his bone head moves... then they can talk on the same playing field and atleast acknowledge the 4000 yards and 1000 yard WR's and high five that point, then point out the 21st scoring offense. Keeping the focus on that. That should humble Ben.

LatrobePA

02-13-2012, 11:09 AM

Watching the SB loss should humble Ben for the rest of his life!

CowherPower

02-13-2012, 11:38 AM

I love Ben as our Quarterback, I wouldn’t want anybody else. I think he’s just handling this the wrong way. He’s doing interviews that make it sound like all is well but then he throws in little jabs about all his passing yards or setting the receivers back 2 or 3 years and all that.

I don’t blame him for feeling a bit on the outside here but he’s bringing as much of this on himself as the team is in their decision to hire Haley. I’m sure in the end it will work out but it’s becoming a joke these days.

BlitzburghRockCity

02-13-2012, 01:04 PM

This whole thing is just such a royal pain to deal with. Between what the media is telling us, and each one is saying something a bit different than the others, nobody knows what is really going on.

All I know is Ben has not thought all of his statements through carefully. I can't fault him for speaking his mind but to me those little jabs can be left out or dealt with inside the offices of Rooney and Tomlin.

LatrobePA

02-13-2012, 01:39 PM

Ben is an f'n idiot, just like his injury quotes, he's just a douchebag!

SteelDad

02-13-2012, 02:06 PM

The only thing that matters is results and right now I could care less what anyone thinks of Ben or Haley. Is it odd they have not spoken yet? Absolutely it is, but unless any of us are in the front office it's hard to know anything that is going on in this organization right now. Ben needs to drop the drama queen crap and Tomlin or Rooney needs to step up and take control of this nonsense.

JollyRob68

02-13-2012, 02:13 PM

The only thing that matters is results and right now I could care less what anyone thinks of Ben or Haley. Is it odd they have not spoken yet? Absolutely it is, but unless any of us are in the front office it's hard to know anything that is going on in this organization right now. Ben needs to drop the drama queen crap and Tomlin or Rooney needs to step up and take control of this nonsense.
PErhaps Tomlin & Rooney are taking control by not worrying what Ben thinks. Thats how you regain control of your team. As for Haley, MAybe he wants to as he said meet with the other coaches on staff,go over personnel & tapes of Ben & last season. Then he can have a honest conversation with Ben about where he wants to take the teams offense. I don't think its that complicated that he didn't talk to Ben before his press conference. By not talking to Ben he doesn't have to answer questions about what they talked about.

Sojourner

02-13-2012, 03:55 PM

I think you hit the nail on the head JollyRob.

Haley has some work to do before he has any worthwhile meetings with any of the players. And I'm pretty sure he'll meet with Tomlin and discuss his plans and reasoning for them long before he hashes out what those plans will be with the players.

Personally I found it a bit funny that Big Ben was hanging around waiting to talk, expecting to talk, feeling like he was entitled to a meeting right away to discuss how the offense would be run.................. and Haley just ignored him.

I think that's a pretty good indication of what the pecking order is going to be like.

LatrobePA

02-13-2012, 04:18 PM

Ben is an employee not a CEO... Get use to it Ben, the freedom you had with shitbag BA is gone...

Nolrog

02-13-2012, 04:57 PM

I'd venture to guess that this is still being blown way out of proportion by reporters bored in the off season looking for something to write about.

Ben and Haley will be just fine together.

jpele

02-13-2012, 05:12 PM

he doesn't like it, he can pack his bags and go to Indy with his boyfriend and we'll take peyton...

Hell no, Manning wouldn't last 2 downs behind our line.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

LarryNJ

02-13-2012, 06:56 PM

Of course Haley has many things to do before he address the team. It's no different than any other business, when a new manager or executive is hired he develops a plan than he presents it to the rest of the organization. Ben is supposed to be a leader a captain, his action certainly don't show team leadership. He can have any opinion he wants, but he needs to publicly say what is best for the team not what makes him feel better.

Black@Gold Forever32

02-13-2012, 11:20 PM

According to the dean of Pittsburgh sports Ed Bouchette Ben is eager to meet Haley......Ben/Haley didn't talk, says he still doesn't even know if they have. Says Ben stated he's very eager to meet Haley. Says Ben has been trying to reach out to Kurt Warner to get pulse on Haley.

So its not all on Ben if he and Haley havn't talked.....Its on Haley as well....All this Ben hate is getting rather silly.....When we win the Super Bowl next year I don't want you haters jump back on the Ben bandwagon.......

NYCsteelersfan

02-13-2012, 11:36 PM

The only thing that matters is results and right now I could care less what anyone thinks of Ben or Haley.

I'd venture to guess that this is still being blown way out of proportion by reporters bored in the off season looking for something to write about.

Ben and Haley will be just fine together.

No doubt it's being blown out of proportion, and it's just idiotic. I don't want pictures of Haley and Roethlisberger making out with each other in the off-season. I want points on the board. People should wait for the season to start and to wait to see the offense in action before analyzing off the field relationships.

LarryNJ

02-14-2012, 12:58 AM

According to the dean of Pittsburgh sports Ed Bouchette Ben is eager to meet Haley......Ben/Haley didn't talk, says he still doesn't even know if they have. Says Ben stated he's very eager to meet Haley. Says Ben has been trying to reach out to Kurt Warner to get pulse on Haley.

So its not all on Ben if he and Haley havn't talked.....Its on Haley as well.........

:scratch: Who said that it was?

coldrolled

02-14-2012, 08:39 AM

douchette never said anything bad about arians, now he has to stir up stories while people are on vacation and during off season with someone who hasnt called a down yet.

move to indiana douchette and write about manning and arians...

Stone

02-14-2012, 08:54 AM

It's a staring contest and Ben can't blink first. The ego's are at stake here and neither one wants to be the one to give in. In there deranged minds, it will show a sense of weakness.

Exactly and this is why I don't like the Haley hiring. Everybody knows players are prima-donas, coaches are supposed to be bigger than that!

LatrobePA

02-14-2012, 09:01 AM

I think we're all reading WAY too much into this! Time to back the F off for a while..

Stone

02-14-2012, 09:03 AM

I think we're all reading WAY too much into this! Time to back the F off for a while..

That is almost always good advice and it can't be bad advice here. Keep in mind that the media's job is no longer to "report" news but to "make" it.

LatrobePA

02-14-2012, 09:12 AM

That is almost always good advice and it can't be bad advice here. Keep in mind that the media's job is no longer to "report" news but to "make" it.

Right, the media is a joke...

BlitzburghRockCity

02-14-2012, 11:50 AM

It doesn’t matter what Bouchette, Dulac, or anyone else reports, the fact is that Ben and Haley did not speak leading up to the hiring. We have no idea if they’ve talked since, but I would hope they would have by now. Ben is saying things that you just really shouldn’t say unless you’re trying to work some internal agenda that you have to get your point across without really saying it.

Nobody, atleast I would think, actually feels that Ben or Todd are going to have some epic meltdown this season. They’ll work out their differences, if there are even any to be worked out.

At this point though, there’s enough out there that’s been done already that IMO atleast could have been handled differently.

LatrobePA

02-14-2012, 12:05 PM

Ben isn't the boss so why would he need to speak to Haley B4 the hire? IMO this is the way it should of been, who cares what they think of each other? It's a job!

Black@Gold Forever32

02-14-2012, 01:19 PM

It doesn’t matter what Bouchette, Dulac, or anyone else reports, the fact is that Ben and Haley did not speak leading up to the hiring. We have no idea if they’ve talked since, but I would hope they would have by now. Ben is saying things that you just really shouldn’t say unless you’re trying to work some internal agenda that you have to get your point across without really saying it.

Nobody, atleast I would think, actually feels that Ben or Todd are going to have some epic meltdown this season. They’ll work out their differences, if there are even any to be worked out.

At this point though, there’s enough out there that’s been done already that IMO atleast could have been handled differently.

I'm just tired of hearing all this negative stuff about Ben lately.....Yes the season was a disappointment and I understand the QB usually gets the most credit when a team wins and will get the most blame when the team losses........This season would have turned out different if Ben hadn't injured his ankle......But it wasn't Ben who gave up 300 yards passing on 10 completions against Tebow and it wasn't Ben who refused to adjust the defensive game plan when it was clear the Steelers needed to switch to zone after Tebow burned man coverage all game......Now Ben is the bad guy because he hasn't talked to Todd Haley yet....Its only Feb. so who cares if they hadn't talked yet?.....Now if they're not talking by July that could be a problem......

As for handling things differently....I suggest this how about Art II take a cue from his dad and stay out of football matters like Dan did for the most part when he was owner......Art II is acting like Jerry Jones these days........

coldrolled

02-14-2012, 01:48 PM

As for handling things differently....I suggest this how about Art II take a cue from his dad and stay out of football matters like Dan did for the most part when he was owner......Art II is acting like Jerry Jones these days........

Maybe because Ben loved Arians so much, Tomlin needed to have the FO release him... That way Ben is not mad at Mike or any other coach and Haley is just the new guy in town... now ben has to learn how to play a little different, oh well, he gets 100mil. either way... wah wah

LatrobePA

02-14-2012, 02:11 PM

Maybe because Ben loved Arians so much, Tomlin needed to have the FO release him... That way Ben is not mad at Mike or any other coach and Haley is just the new guy in town... now ben has to learn how to play a little different, oh well, he gets 100mil. either way... wah wah

Sick but true, this whole BA deal had a yucky feel to it!

Black@Gold Forever32

02-14-2012, 02:50 PM

Maybe because Ben loved Arians so much, Tomlin needed to have the FO release him... That way Ben is not mad at Mike or any other coach and Haley is just the new guy in town... now ben has to learn how to play a little different, oh well, he gets 100mil. either way... wah wah

I don't hear Ben crying.....Ben just said he would like to keep most of the offense intact and I see nothing wrong with that.....The entire offense doesn't need revamped just fine tuned.......Ben is entitled to his opinions on matters and really that doesn't mean he is whining....I think some of you are just making a to big of a deal out of this......

JensK

02-14-2012, 05:33 PM

I don't hear Ben crying.....Ben just said he would like to keep most of the offense intact and I see nothing wrong with that.....The entire offense doesn't need revamped just fine tuned.......Ben is entitled to his opinions on matters and really that doesn't mean he is whining....I think some of you are just making a to big of a deal out of this......

While he is perfectly entitled to his own opinions, someone maybe should have poked him on the shoulder and told him that some of the things he has said regarding all this Haley circus has been terribly badly thought through. For instance, when he talked about how he talked with people around the league and some said good things, other said bad things. Why would he go out and say that? I cannot think of one decent reason for not just coming out and say that he is eager to find out himself, instead of planting that little dagger that some have said bad things about Haley and Ben did indeed listen to them.

As I've written elsewhere, Ben seems to be rather pissed about them letting Arians go but there is no reason what-so-ever to be so vocal about it. I understand he is entitled to an opinion and whatnot, but he must also understand that he is part of a business where every single thing he says gets analyzed into sometime stupid detail. Whatever feelings he had in regards to the situation should have been discussed internally, and he should have just said he looked forward to working with Haley. Every single discussion in this regard would have been avoided that way.

My point is, he is a professional athlete who gets payed a ton of dollars to throw the ball and win football games. Aside from that, he is representing a huge organization and he should act accordingly in my opinion. Not that I'm against free speech at all but I do believe that public characters needs to make sure what they want to achieve by saying whatever they elect to say; anything else usually ends up causing stuff like this. So many examples of it, even within the Steelers organization.

Black@Gold Forever32

02-14-2012, 06:02 PM

Ben has won a ton of football games (including in helping the team win two Lombardies) so to me he has earned the right to voice his opinion if he wants to........Of course he is going to be upset that Arians was leg go since they were close....But at the same time I don't think Ben is crying or doing anything harmful to the team since its only Feb.........I think most of you are over reacting some what..........I bet by July everything will be fine between Ben and Todd Haley........

JensK

02-14-2012, 06:18 PM

I don't hear him crying either, I just think that he could have handled it much better is all really. I also agree that we most likely are overreacting but well.. Its the off-season! What better time to overreact?

NYCsteelersfan

02-14-2012, 06:43 PM

Maybe because Ben loved Arians so much, Tomlin needed to have the FO release him... That way Ben is not mad at Mike or any other coach and Haley is just the new guy in town... now ben has to learn how to play a little different, oh well, he gets 100mil. either way... wah wah

It's a lot more likely that the front office fired Arians because Tomlin is an idiot who should've fired him a while ago considering this team never ranked high offensively, and we won games due to offensive improvisation rather than offense planning.

CowherPower

02-16-2012, 02:45 PM

Ben has won a ton of football games (including in helping the team win two Lombardies) so to me he has earned the right to voice his opinion if he wants to........Of course he is going to be upset that Arians was leg go since they were close....But at the same time I don't think Ben is crying or doing anything harmful to the team since its only Feb.........I think most of you are over reacting some what..........I bet by July everything will be fine between Ben and Todd Haley........

Well said, I think most everybody in the Steelernation is worried a bit too much about this right now. I admit I do find it odd that they haven't at least talked yet but I'm not losing sleep over it just yet.

Ben has earned the right to voice his opinion, I agree, but something are better kept in house than out in the public.

JollyRob68

02-16-2012, 02:57 PM

Ben is Crying and is a DRAMA QUEEN. He needs to STFU. Perhaps Haley is doing his job and evaluating Ben & the entire offense. So at this time he has no reason to talk to Ben he's not done evaluating. The last Interview Ben did all he talked about how he(I) want Haley to ask him what he thinks and how Ben thinks of this and of that. STFU and you will do what your told to do and If you don't they'll find someone who will.
I believe The Steelers are letting Ben know he's not in control anymore.

JollyRob68

02-16-2012, 03:03 PM

If Ben would just shut up there would be no issues.No fuel for the media, no reason for him to say the Defense is asking why he hasn't gotten in touch with you. Do your rehab and stop your Drama. The more BS we read that Ben says the more of an issue he's going to have with Haley because Haley doesn't care what you have to say.